Avvo Launches First Online Legal Marketplace

Legal marketplace eliminates the fear and friction of hiring an attorney — consumers shop for an attorney privately — evaluate fit, fees and approach to their case

Seattle, Wash — Avvo, Inc., the web’s largest expert-only legal Q&A forum and directory (www.avvo.com), today announced the launch of Avvo Legal Marketplace, offering consumers a private and hassle-free way to more confidently research and select the right attorney for their specific case. In the Avvo Legal Marketplace, consumers receive proposals from multiple attorneys, for free, which include personalized information on fees and approach to the case, as well as the attorney’s Avvo Rating and synopsis of client and peer reviews.

Avvo developed the Avvo Legal Marketplace to add information and transparency to what has traditionally been a confusing and time-intensive process for consumers. The Avvo Legal Marketplace is available in two initial practice areas — divorce and traffic tickets. Additional topics or practice areas will be added later in the year.

“Many consumers come to Avvo.com seeking legal advice and realize that they need the expertise of an attorney to handle their situation, but the process of finding, hiring and making sure you’re getting good value from an attorney is daunting,” said Mark Britton, founder and CEO of Avvo, Inc. “Consumers need a variety of information to confidently choose the right attorney — including a better understanding of how the attorney will approach the case and anticipated costs – in addition to the attorney’s experience and reviews.  Avvo’s Legal Marketplace brings together all of this information in one place, removing the fear, uncertainty and friction that keeps many consumers from hiring attorneys – even when they know they should.”

“Divorce is oftentimes the most difficult time in a person’s life and the initial process of hiring an attorney can be intimidating for many people,” said divorce attorney Kelly Chang Rickert. “The Avvo Legal Marketplace offers consumers a whole new way to find and select an attorney, providing transparency and leveraging technology to bring consumers and attorneys together.”

The Avvo Legal Marketplace can be accessed from the Avvo.com homepage or by searching on divorce or traffic ticket-related terms on Avvo.com. Potential clients can privately submit information that enables attorneys in their area to evaluate the case and submit a personalized proposal that includes:

  • Their approach to the case
  • Fees in the form of hourly or flat rates, or estimated cost
  • An outcome assessment based on past outcomes, if appropriate, or evaluation of the information provided thus far
  • Estimated length of time the case should take, if appropriate

Attorneys can also request additional information from the user before supplying a proposal. Attorneys must have a claimed profile and account on Avvo to participate in the marketplace.

The information required by potential clients is specific to the practice area and was developed with extensive input from attorneys specializing in either divorce or traffic tickets.  For example, for traffic tickets, the user submits the location, date, ticket number and if available, the court involved, along with their name and contact information, and a description of the infraction.

In addition to hiring an attorney through the Avvo Legal Marketplace, Avvo users can ask questions and find answers about many other legal topics via Avvo’s Q&A forum. More than five million people turn to Avvo.com every month to get answers to their pressing legal questions.

About Avvo, Inc.

Avvo.com is the web’s largest expert-only legal Q&A forum, directory and legal marketplace (http://www.avvo.com), connecting hundreds of thousands of consumers and lawyers every month.  In Avvo’s Q&A forum consumers can get free legal advice 24/7 from more than 125,000 participating lawyers, and Avvo’s directory provides comprehensive profiles, client reviews, peer endorsements and the industry-recognized Avvo Rating for more than 95 percent of all lawyers in the U.S.  In addition, Avvo helps lawyers grow their business with Avvo Ignite, a cloud-based marketing platform and website solution specifically for attorneys. Founded in 2007, Avvo is privately held with funding from Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Ignition Partners.